Interesting facts and notes in old railroad magazines

[Willbridge]

Trains January 1955 article on page 25. "Miss 2,000,000 Miles" is an article about the SAL's on board stewardess/nurse.

Can one imagine the budget fight to provide a nurse on every Amtrak train?

Up into 1966 the Northern Pacific promoted "Sue the Stewardess-Nurse." By the time I rode the North Coast Limited in 1967, Sue the Stewardess-Nurse was just Sue the Stewardess. And on the train that I rode, she spent most of the time chatting with the head-end brakeman. To the NP's credit, the stewardess service continued into the BN merger, almost up to the dawn of Amtrak.

Seaboard Coast Line had Registered Nurses on selected trains till the end. And here's some real trivia: the May 1, 1971 SCL-Amtrak timetable lists an RN on the Silver Meteor. How long did that last?

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Not related to an article but Timken sure did spend on advertising for their tapered roller bearings. I wish I would have remembered when they started advertising but Timken and and AAR are guaranteed advertisements each issue and have been. I am in the 1956 issues right now for reference.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains, May 1956 page 10 Arrivals and Departures column

Air lines have been reluctant to move
from Midway Airport to O'Hare because ,
the larger terminal's inaccessibily
NEW: In Know the Facts Robert R. Young
predicts a transcontinental all-coach
Aerotrain making New York-California run
nonstop with only two nights out.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains October 1956 has an article on "The Locomotive that Made Penn Station Possible."

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains December 1956, page 10.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains December 1956, page 10.

View attachment 36846

Is the frown emoji for your reaction for the dying passenger rail mentioned or the fact that Greyhound is dying before passenger rail dies?

 

[railiner]

Trains December 1956, page 10.

View attachment 36846

Is the frown emoji for your reaction for the dying passenger rail mentioned or the fact that Greyhound is dying before passenger rail dies?

Hiring Genet was probably the biggest mistake that The Greyhound Corporation made in that era…he nearly ruined the company, and they bought out his contract well short of his term…

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Hiring Genet was probably the biggest mistake that The Greyhound Corporation made in that era…he nearly ruined the company, and they bought out his contract well short of his term…

What did Genet do that was so bad? My history of Greyhound starts with the strikes in the 1980s which, in hindsight, I took as the start of the downward spiral of Greyhound.

 

[railiner]

What did Genet do that was so bad? My history of Greyhound starts with the strikes in the 1980s which, in hindsight, I took as the start of the downward spiral of Greyhound.

https://time.com/archive/6612859/personnel-new-driver-at-greyhound/

https://bluehoundsandredhounds.info/?page_id=137
Skip down to “After WWII” on this one…

Genet must have missed his use of a business car that he enjoyed as C&O VP of traffic…
He ordered the removal from revenue service of one of Greyhound’s premier Scenicruiser coaches, and its conversion to an “Office Car” to take him around the country to visit Company properties.
After his departure, the coach was quickly converted back into revenue service.

Genet aboard “GC-1”

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

https://time.com/archive/6612859/personnel-new-driver-at-greyhound/

https://bluehoundsandredhounds.info/?page_id=137
Skip down to “After WWII” on this one…

Interesting read and I appreciate the coöperation written with the umlaut even more so in the second link.

 

[Willbridge]

https://time.com/archive/6612859/personnel-new-driver-at-greyhound/

https://bluehoundsandredhounds.info/?page_id=137
Skip down to “After WWII” on this one…

That's dizzying! I had always thought of the move from Chicago to Phoenix in 1971 as the point when things started to go bad.

One thing that he did not consider was the prediction quoted in Trains in 1956 above. I always got the impression that Greyhound just assumed that they would get that traffic from the railroads without having a plan to keep it.

Like some railroads, they opposed new market entrants, but were unwilling to adjust to fill those gaps themselves. (Some of the blame lies with the regulatory system.)

 

[railiner]

That's dizzying! I had always thought of the move from Chicago to Phoenix in 1971 as the point when things started to go bad.

One thing that he did not consider was the prediction quoted in Trains in 1956 above. I always got the impression that Greyhound just assumed that they would get that traffic from the railroads without having a plan to keep it.

Like some railroads, they opposed new market entrants, but were unwilling to adjust to fill those gaps themselves. (Some of the blame lies with the regulatory system.)

Greyhound, like some other large corporations, at a point in their history, began to diversify from their core business, in search of more lucrative means of profits, and bled their core to feed their new acquisition's and subsidiary's. Penn Central was a notorious example. Eventually, The Greyhound Corporation spun off its core business, after deregulation and major labor issues really accelerated their demise. Several changes in ownership did not help.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains, February 1957 page 20. Article was about NY Central so all of these times must be NYC trains.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains 1957 March, page 58. I mention this only because of the article title and the time of this thread.

"Uninteresting ...who said that?

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains May 1958. Page 23.

THE ariticle everyone has been waiting for on this message board. The article is titled, "Clean-window Train."

This article was so important and David P. Morgan himself wrote the article.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains October 1958 pg 12

NOW HEAR THIS: Curtiss-Wright is
talking to Pennsy about a high-speed, high-
powered propeller-driven train for a 2-hour
40-minute New York Washington schedule.
(Fastest conventional train now requires 3
hours 25 minutes for 226-mile run. ) Pow-
ered by an airliner-type 3000 hp. Wright
turbocompound engine, new train could use
reverse-pitch for braking. Acclration:
0 to 115 mph in 7000 feet ! Idea is not
new. It was tried in Germany as early as
1919. In 1930 a prop-driven, 600 h. p.,
28-ton German railplane hit 140 mph.

 

[jis]

Trains October 1958 pg 12

NOW HEAR THIS: Curtiss-Wright is
talking to Pennsy about a high-speed, high-
powered propeller-driven train for a 2-hour
40-minute New York Washington schedule.
(Fastest conventional train now requires 3
hours 25 minutes for 226-mile run. ) Pow-
ered by an airliner-type 3000 hp. Wright
turbocompound engine, new train could use
reverse-pitch for braking. Acclration:
0 to 115 mph in 7000 feet ! Idea is not
new. It was tried in Germany as early as
1919. In 1930 a prop-driven, 600 h. p.,
28-ton German railplane hit 140 mph.

I suppose that did not age too well

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains February 1959 page 55.

David P Morgan did a book rewiew of Atlas Shrugged. He pointed out the bad railroading discussed in the book.

I am not a fan of Rand's world view so was not planning to read this book at this point in my life, but I am even less inclined now.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains March 1959. Cover is about overland Yachts, and in the Arrivals and Departures column there is this. Penn Central did happen eventually.


ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
HOT AND COLD: Postponement of NYC+
PRK merger has met mixed reaction in the
East. Other roads in area have called off
further meetings in Cleveland. Chesa
peake & Ohio says it doesn't want to marry
anybody. Five New England roads have is
sued a joint denial that they've abandoned
merger talks, but Bangor & Aroostook Presi
dent W. Gordon Robertson says, "I believe
co-operation, rather than consolidation,
best describes the relationship we are
seeking. ..." Meantime, Norfolk & West
ern declares consolidation plans with
Virginian are "progressing very satisfac
torily."

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains April 1959, the cover is "Who Shot the Passenger Train?" almost entire issue relates to this question.

 

[railiner]

This article was so important and David P. Morgan himself wrote the article.

One of my favorite rail writer’s. My favorite piece from all his work was a chapter entitled:
“Overnite, Every Night”, from his book, “Diesel’s West, The Evolution of Power on the Burlington”, published by Kalmbach.
In it is a wonderful description of the turning and run .of the Denver Zephyr at Chicago on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and its status as an institution from one generation to another.
It still is.

 

[PaTrainFan]

One of my favorite rail writer’s. My favorite piece from all his work was a chapter entitled:
“Overnite, Every Night”, from his book, “Diesel’s West, The Evolution of Power on the Burlington”, published by Kalmbach.
In it is a wonderful description of the turning and run .of the Denver Zephyr at Chicago on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and its status as an institution from one generation to another.
It still is.

I remember that book and chapter!

 

[railiner]

Seaboard Coast Line had Registered Nurses on selected trains till the end. And here's some real trivia: the May 1, 1971 SCL-Amtrak timetable lists an RN on the Silver Meteor. How long did that last?

That one got my curiosity. I looked at the first Amtrak system tt, and it doesn’t mention that. Each Amtrak member road on that date still produced their own tt, which was a carryover mainly from their previous one when they still were the carrier, except for a blurb on it that stated the intercity trains shown were operated by the host railroad on behalf of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.
So that must be where you saw it (I couldn’t find more than a photo of the cover, online).

One of my most prized collectables, is a complete manual for SCL Passenger Service Agents and Registered Nurses, issued in the late ‘60’s….I recall seeing them at trainside in Penn Station, NY, and aboard the Florida Special, when I rode it…

 

[Willbridge]

Here they are.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Trains, May 1959 cover is very existential, "What is a Railroad?"

There is an ad on page 54-55 about the Budd slumbercoaches and their occupancy rates. Great picture of their outside but a missed opportunity to have a great picture of the inside, though there is a small picture.